It is known in radio communication systems, such as a system operating in accordance with the “Global System Mobile” (GSM) standard, to provide, over and above providing radio coverage for implementing radio links that incur a charge, extra paying services, such as the sending of text messages, structured in accordance with the “Short Message Service” (SMS) standard, for example.
There are basically two payment options in radio communication systems. In the first payment option, a network operator has access to a bank account of the user of the services, so that, in principle, the user can make use of the services within the network as long as it is possible to debit this account. In the second option, also known as “prepaid charging”,” the user can secure a credit account with the operator by advancing the relevant amount of credit, so that he/she can use the full range of extra paying services cited above, or a subset of them, provided their costs are covered by the credit.
Thus, particularly in the latter payment option, a credit check generally needs to be made for providing a paying service.
A version of this is known from WO01/22761, in which a user initiates the paying service of sending an SMS by sending off the SMS concerned. Before the sent SMS is forwarded to its destination (message recipient), an entity responsible for this checks whether there is sufficient credit available. Depending on the result, the SMS is then passed to the recipient or terminated in the entity.
Another version is known from WO00/04701. In the system disclosed, SMS messages need to be exchanged to clarify the credit for providing a paying service.
A disadvantage with these methods is that, in the radio communication systems concerned, large amounts of data are sent, which results in a disproportionate load on the network resources particularly in the negative case; i.e., provision of a required service is denied because of insufficient credit to cover this.
A particular disadvantage here is the loading of the valuable air interface in the negative case by the transmission of large amounts of (user) data.
The invention thus seeks to enable paying services within a radio communication system, in particular a third generation radio communication system, to be provided in a way that conserves resources.